Wet clothes tray



April 1, 1952 B R 2,591,467

WET CLOTHES TRAY Filed July 6, 1946 INVENTOR. LLOYD RODEFER A TTOFIWE Y Patented Apr. 1, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE war CLOTHES. TRAY Application July s, 1946, s mi No. 681,750

1 Claim.

My invention relates to wet clothes trays, par, ticularly removable clothes catchers employed to aid in the working of electric clothes washers, wringers and laundry tubs, and its objects are to provide a means for the convenient reception of wet clothes as they finally come squeezed from the wringer and for carrying off drippings of water therefrom; to bring about a saving of time and labor in the wringing out of clothes after being washed and the subsequent disposition of the same for starching, drying, ironing, or other treatment; to provide a convenient tray which conforms to the shape of the tubs and which may readily be attached or detached therefrom. as occasion requires; to render the parts of the tray readily accessible for inspection, replacement and repair; and generally to provide a device which is simple and economical of construction, efficient in action and which will not easil deteriorate or get out of order. Other objects will appear from the drawing and as hereinafter more specifically set forth and claimed. 7

In the use of the well known double laundry tub formed with two compartments, electric washers and connected wringers now commonly employed by the housewife in the laundry work of the home, considerable time and effort is expended by her in the handling of wet clothes coming from the wringer and in the disposal of the same. Ordinarily electric washing machines, provided with a swing arm carrying the wringer, are positioned close to the tub compartments so that said arm may be swung over and be conveniently located above the partitioning wall separating the same; the practice being to run the clothes coming from the washing machine into the first tub compartment containing rinsing water in front of the wringer, and after rinsing, to continue to run the clothes through the wringer into the second tub compartment behind the wringer, where the clothes are again rinsed in water containing bluing; and thereupon are run back again through the Wringer, at which time the housewife must feed with one hand the individual piece of laundry as it enters the wringer for the second tub compartment and catch it as it comes out with the other hand to prevent it falling again into the water of the first tub compartment and getting wet, and to guide or place it in the clothes basket preparatory to being placed upon the clothes lines for drying in the open air. All of which is hard and slow work and very fatiguing to the back and shoulders of the person doing the labor, and exhausting if continued for any length of time. It is for the general purpose of avoiding this fatigue and facilitating the handling of the wash that I have devised my new and improved clothes catcher, and have so located it that through its use the housewife may be enabled to have both hands freed for feeding clothes into the wringer and that the clothes so fed may automatically be caught and held from falling into the water of compartment of the first tub without having to be grasped by her as heretofore.

My invention primarily consists in constructing a removable shallow tray with perforated bottom, said tray being shaped to fit loosely within the walls of either compartment of a double laundry tub and being provided with hangers for temporarily securing the same to the top of the walls of said tub adjacent thereto, so as to be in position to receive and hold articles of clothing coming from a wringer located at one side thereof and to prevent said clothing from falling into the water beneath.

My invention further consists of other novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of elements or parts illustrated in the drawing and as will be hereinafter more particularly set forth and described.

Attention is hereby directed to the drawing, illustrating a preferred form of my invention, in which similar numerals of designation refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which,

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of one form of my improved tray showing perforations therein, provided with hangers for suspending said tray within one of the compartments of a double laundry tub. and

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective showing the tray duly installed in operative position in the tub for receiving articles of clothing bein discharged from the wringer; the relative positions of the clothes washer and wringer being graphically shown.

Referring to the drawing, the tray 3 is preferably in the form of a rectangular sheet of metal, plastic, wood or other suitable material, open at the sides and having perforations 4, and being provided with slings 5. preferably of metal, with the ends thereof extended and bent to form hangers or hooks 6. The slings 5, as shown, are elongated bars of metal secured by rivets l or in any suitable manner to the body of the end tray 3, two of the edges 3a and 3b of which may be bent upwardly for the purpose of better anchorage of said slings. Such slings are preferably two in number, but may be multiplied it thought necessary or desirable. The perforations 4 are provided for the purpose of allowing any water.

collecting upon the tray to drain off into the tub below, and may be of any arrangement or pattern suitable for the purpose. The tray 3 is shaped so as almost completely to fill the space between the walls of one of the compartments 8 or 8a of a conventional laundry tub 9, and the hooks or hangers 6 are located and shaped to engage with and to extend over the tops of the walls adjacent thereto, upon installation of said tray. To secure the desired results, the tray 3 is positioned to receive articles of clothing as they are being discharged from the conventional.

wringer l0, which is here shown as located just above the dividing partition I 1 between the said compartments 8 and 8a of said tub; the said wringer being pivotally mounted as usual upon the conventional electric washing machine I2.

In order to use my improved wet clothes tray to the best advantage in the disposal of laundry taken out of the electric washing machine the following steps should be followedi First, the soiled clothes are introduced with soap into a convencontaining bluing; fourthly, the wringer i0 is f swung into operative position just above the partition I I, and the tray 3 is duly installed in compartment 8 and the hangers 6 attached to the walls thereof; fifthly, the operator, standing at the side of the tub opposite to the washing machine, removes one piece at a time the rinsed pieces of clothing from compartment 8a and feeds each piece through the wringer l0, using one or both hands for the purpose, and permits each piece as it is discharged to fall without handling into the tray 3; sixthly, when the said tray becomes heaped with wrung clothes in sufficient amount, it is lifted from its connection with the tub 9, and the clothes are carried out to be placed on the clothes line to dry, or leaving the tray in place, the said wrung clothes are removed and dropped into or placed in a clothes basket from which they are similarly disposed.

In carrying'out these steps, it is to be'noted that the tray 3 is sufliciently shallow in character, and the hangers 6 are so formed and connected, that the tray only occupies the extreme upper part of the hollow of the compartment 8, being well above the water level thereof as controlled by the usual overflow discharge outlet (not shown); and that any water dripping from the wringer upon said tray or coming from the wet clothing is permitted to fall through the perforations 4 to the water in the hollow below.

My device will also be found useful, in carrying out the process of starching the laundry, in that as the clothes are discharged from the wringer as above described, they may be caught in a pan resting upon my tray in proper position for such purpose, such pan containing the starch solution usually employed for such process; and

- thereafter the clothing so starched may again directly after the steps above referred to, where starching is desired.

My invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment, as above set forth, is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of my invention being indicated by the appended claim rather than by the above description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claim therefore intended to be embraced therein. 7

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a device of the character described, the combination of a perforated sheet with open sides and turned-up ends forming a shallow tray, said tray being adapted to be introduced within the hollow of one of the compartments of a double laundry tub; metallic bars forming slings attached to the bottom and turned-up ends of said tray, and having hooks formed and positioned to make releasable attachment to the tops of the walls of said compartment adjacent to said turned-up ends.

LLOYD RODEFER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 7 Name Date 676,625 Hayden June 18, 1901 894,706 Schubert July 28, 1908 1,307,211 Newlon June 17, 1919 1,376,239 Williamson Apr. 26, 1921 1,732,520 Leatherman Oct. 22, 1929 1,954,384 Hurt Apr. 10, 1934 2,098,374 Bullock Nov. 9, 1937 

